Songs with Numbered Floors in the Lyrics Quiz

Answer: "Dead End Street" - The Kinks

According to the lyrics of the Kinks' 1966 hit, "Dead End Street," life is pretty grim:

"What are we living for?
Two-roomed apartment on the second floor.
No money coming in,
The rent collector's knocking, trying to get in"

Well, they can always aspire to better days in a cul-de-sac...!

Answer: "Second Avenue" - Art Garfunkel

Love breaks apart - boy moves out:

"I can still see you standing
There on the third-floor landing.
The day you visited we hardly said a word.
Outside it was rainin',
You said you couldn't be stayin"

Well, at least she came to visit - that must count for something...

Answer: "I See You" - The Byrds

"I know you
Met before, seventh floor
First world war, I know you"

From their 1966 Album "Fifth Dimension" this track, written by McGuinn and Crosby, was a bit disjointed. The next line continues:

"Who lives there?
Tell old fair I'm aware
That she cares, who lives there?"

Eh...?

Answer: "Queen Bitch" - David Bowie

A typical set of cheerful Bowie lyrics:

"I'm up on the eleventh floor and I'm watching the cruisers below
He's down on the street and he's trying hard to pull sister Flo
Oh my heart's in the basement, my weekend's at an all time low"

Hmmm....never even thought of looking for a song that said 'basement'.

Answer: "Black Friday" - Steely Dan

"When Black Friday comes
I'll stand down by the door
And catch the grey men when they
Dive from the fourteenth floor"

A probable reference to the rash of suicides that occured in the US on Oct. 29, 1929, "Black Friday" when the Stock Market crashed. Of course, the men would really be jumping from the 13th floor, misnamed the 14th in most buildings in order to avoid the unlucky number.

Answer: "Memory Motel" - Rolling Stones

"On the seventh day my eyes were all aglaze
We've been ten thousand miles - been in fifteen states
Every woman seemed to fade out of my mind
I hit the bottle and hit the sack and cried
What's all this laughter on the 22nd floor
It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door
Been a lonely night at the Memory Motel"

And here you thought travelling with the Stones was all fun and glamour!

Answer: 25th - Patti Smith

"25th Floor" from Patti Smith's 1978 "Easter" album is immediately followed by "High on Rebellion" an avant garde poem about energy, love, sex and positive anarchy. According to the lyrics of the song, the 25th floor being sung about is somewhere in a building in Detroit (a good place for all of those elements).

Answer: "Sin City" - Gram Parsons

"This old earthquake's gonna leave me in the poorhouse
It seems like this whole town's insane
On the 31st floor, a gold-plated door
Won't keep out the Lord's burning rain"

The late Gram Parsons was a pioneer in the country-rock sound. He was a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers and also briefly a member of the Byrds. "Sin City", a song about Los Angeles, was covered by Emmylou Harris. Parsons died in 1973 at the early age of 26, but his music continues to be a major influence today.

Answer: "Get Off of My Cloud" - Rolling Stones

"I live in an apartment on the ninety-ninth floor of my block
And I sit at home looking out the window
Imagining the world has stopped"

Doesn't sound very entertaining. But maybe the lift has stopped also and it's too exhausting to brave all those stairs to go out for entertainment...

Answer: "Cindy (Incidentally)" - The Faces

"So Cindy, get your coat on
Leave the rent with the gent up in the penthouse
Turn your music so loud; let's attract a big crowd
We'll drink a round to this town and bid goodbye"

Hmmm...with all that loud music and drinking I bet the landlord was happy to see them go. He's really lucky he got that last month's rent!